USDA November crop report to include field survey data as shutdown drags on

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is collecting survey-based data for its upcoming crop production report scheduled for release on November 14, an official with the agency’s statistical arm said on Wednesday, despite the ongoing U.S. government shutdown. The report will include the government’s first updated estimates of U.S. corn and soybean yield and production since September 12, when most of the Midwestern harvest was not yet underway. The October crop report was not issued due to the shutdown. The USDA’s reports are closely monitored by grain traders globally. Along with corn and soybeans, the upcoming report will include data on cotton, peanuts, potatoes, rice, sorghum, sugarbeets and sugarcane. The November crop production report normally includes U.S. corn and soybean yield estimates based on farmer surveys as well as field samples. “We are collecting the necessary survey and administrative data to support the forecasts in the report,” Lance Honig, an official with ...